City to take over supply from Eskom

THE CITY of Joburg said it was in the process of taking over the supply of electricity to Soweto and other parts of Joburg such as Sandton.

This comes after Eskom chief executive Andre de Ruyter last week announced that the entity had been in talks with the late mayor, Geoff Makhubo, about moving Soweto customers over to the City of Joburg.

Soweto had become infamous for its massive debt to Eskom and many had cited lack of political leadership for the non-payment in Soweto.

Some groups had argued that Eskom was billing the township incorrectly. The township was greatly affected by Eskom’s load reduction during the winter because of the non-payment.

Speaking to The Star, environment and infrastructure service

MMC Mpho Moerane said the city was at an advanced stage of the process. He said Soweto owed Eskom around R7 billion and this debt would first have to be verified.

The city preferred that the residents be moved over to City Power on a clean slate, he said. It appears that the talks on the transition have been happening for some time with city officials having participated in a meeting with Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan over the matter.

“Last year, we had a meeting with Gordhan and the chief executive of Eskom on the problems of Soweto. We then formed a task team.

Some of the areas that are going to be transferred include Sandton, Ivory Park, Diepsloot and Orange Farm. Moerane said what was left is for the stakeholders to draw up a memorandum of understanding. “The last mayoral committee thast sat last week approved that the city manager, City Power and Eskom can sign a Memorandum of Understanding.

“The MoU was drafted three months ago. (It) is almost done and we agreed that we will sign it at the end of September.” Moerane said.

The city would not be able to take the Soweto customers with the massive debt because it was simply too much, he said. Transaction advisers were assisting the city with final arrangements.